Woods in Winter
Sarah Wiseman Gallery

Welcome

'Woods in Winter'

More spectacular than ever before, Sarah Wiseman Gallery’s Christmas exhibition this year is inspired by
snowy woods and star-lit winter nights. Some of our artists have chosen to
respond directly to this idea, giving the work an exciting new edge; and for
visitors a more immersive experience.

This mini-catalogue, which
contains highlights of this year’s show, is arranged in three themes; ‘Nature’,
‘Oxford’ and ‘Feasts and Festivities’. We hope each of these not only inspire
you, but assist with decision making in the search for the perfect present. The
full collections of works by all of our artists are available to see on our
website www.wisegal.com , along
with biographies, information on each artwork and lots more besides.

Sarah Wiseman Gallery’s
exhibition at Christmas always includes a dazzling range of gift ideas – from
smaller scale ceramics and craft, to larger scale painting and printmaking
collections. Topped off with a spectacular window display, the exhibition is
set to be an inspiration for anyone seeking a beautifully made gift.

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Daniel Ablitt

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Daniel Ablitt is a great observer the landscape; he does not set out to record a likeness of a particular location but he seeks to engage with the profound effect it has on us as human beings. His paintings depict partly-imagined places and half-remembered landscapes captured mostly from his travel experiences and childhood. These memories are pieced together with other fragments of influence that have been absorbed through film and literature combining to express and explore his personal mythology. The work has a haunting sense of familiarity presenting the viewer with a symbolic and dreamlike imagery perhaps a landscape feature that has settled onto our human collective consciousness, such as a secluded lake, forest or mountain.

Daniel Ablitt's use of light brush work brings out tiny details, such as glowing lights or blossoming flowers in contrast to larger areas of washed out inky mark-making, even staining the canvases which adds to the dream-like quality. Like a dream the landscapes in them seem to recede into a mist or glow, with no particular beginning or end-point, they are full of detail but never over-worked or sentimentalised. Often a human figure or two is visible, placed at one corner or centrally so as to enhance the sensation of scale, prompting the viewer to think of the smallness of our place in the world and a child-like wonder at places not yet explored. These distant tiny figures are at once a glimpse of an intimate moment or exchange that we are not a part of and an invitation to a world of new and imagined possibilities. In other paintings tiny boats are distantly seen, lit with tiny lights from starlight and port-hole lights, leading the viewer to imagine journeys taken or yet to take.

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Helen Ward

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The inspiration for artist Helen Ward's 'Lepidoptera' series comes from a stack of original Victorian marbled paper that she discovered at a book fair whilst still a student. The paper remained in her 'stash' for a few years until she was experimenting with making pop up books, cutting, folding and manipulating paper. It was during this time that she was drawn back to the Victorian marbled paper and began thinking of how to use it, influenced by its Victorian origins she began to explore the theme of entomology and the series was born.

The effect Helen Ward creates is wondrous, fully exploiting the 'Cabinet of Curiosities' aesthetic. Helen selects and cuts each insect, moth and butterfly by hand showing immense skill and control with the scalpel. The paper cuts are pinned with entomology pins to the soft white background and carefully positioned to create beautiful shadows and elegant compositions. Darkly romantic, these pieces capture the imagination of dusty libraries and forgotten treasures waiting to be discovered.

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Catherine Rayner

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Award winning author, illustrator and artist Catherine Rayner is best known for her animated depictions of wild and domestic animals, showing off the charisma and character of these creatures that many of us take for granted. Catherine Rayner has been exhibiting at Sarah Wiseman Gallery for ten years and in that time we've been thrilled to see the leaps her career has taken. Using liquid acrylics and silkscreen her lively and expressive line describes movement whilst playing with scale and space. By placing the animal to one side of the paper, for example, she suggests that it has just strayed into the frame and at any moment might just wander off again. Her silkscreens are made expressively and organically often including up to thirty layers of colour. Her experience as a children's book illustrator allows the viewer to observe each creature and imagine the events in its life. Its posture, pose and curious expression has a poignancy and a sense of anticipation as in a new story unfolding. More recently, Catherine has included carefully placed leaves and grasses or footprints to build even more of a sense of scale and backdrop.

Catherine Rayner graduated in 2004 from Edinburgh College of Art where she studied Illustration. She published her first picture book 'Augustus and His Smile' in 2006. She won the Best New Illustrator Award at the Booktrust Early Years Awards and was also shortlisted for the V&A Illustration Awards in that same year. Since that time she has published around a dozen picture books for children,in her own right, as well as collaborating with other writers. Amongst numerous other prizes and nominations she was the recipient of the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal in 2009 for her book 'Harris Finds His Feet'.
Her work has been exhibited all around the UK and is in numerous private collections. Catherine lives and works in Edinburgh.

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Flora McLachlan

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Flora McLachlan’s work takes its inspiration from the meeting of myth with ancient landscape. She is drawn to
themes of romantic medieval poetry and ideas of setting out on a quest, through
trees and thorns and ‘searching out a glimpse of a white hart’. Her printmaking
is softly lit with areas of deep shadow, alluding to a darker, more untamed
woodland. Using a multitude of printmaking techniques, each image is layered
with time-worn textures, her aim to make work that is reminiscent of an ancient
relic, briefly brought back to life.

Flora McLachlan studied English Literature at Brasenose College Oxford, before
completing a diploma in Illustration at West Herts College, where she made her
first etchings. She became a member of the Oxford Printmaker’s Cooperative
where she continued to develop her work, exhibiting nationally. She was elected
an associate member of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers in 2008,
becoming a fellow in 2013. Flora has recently relocated to remote
Pembrokeshire, where she has set up her own studio.

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Sally Stafford

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Sally Stafford is well known for her expressive landscape painting, her emotional response to her surroundings key to her work. She studies the natural world during her travels - to Portugal, Devon and Dorset as well as farther afield to Australia and Indonesia- and aims to recreate that moment of connection on canvas. Colours and textures develop through application of multiple layers of paint, ink, wax and pigment. Sally favours working on the floor, allowing the various media react and pool together. Her artistic process is highly involved from a physical point of view but also a meditative one as she maintains that she is not simply painting a meadow for example, but 'growing' one, allowing her intuition to inform her process.

There is an element of impressionism in her painting in the way she approaches her work, the seemingly instantaneous feel of her brushwork, however the mix of different media keeps it resolutely contemporary.
Sally Stafford trained at Stroud School of Art and Bower Ashton in Bristol and has been working as a professional artist for over fifteen years. Sally's work has been commissioned for homes, hotels, and workplaces all over the U.K and overseas.

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Angie Lewin

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Artist, printmaker, textile designer and horticulturalist, Angie Lewin's work encompasses an astonishing range of disciplines and techniques, working in wood engraving, silkscreen, lithography as well as creating pattern for wall papers, ceramics and textiles. Her eagle eye for the detail in plant life and nature is at the heart of her work, pattern and rhythm of natural forms, all observed in intimate detail. She is particularly drawn to plants with strong, architectural shapes and lines, choosing the prickly head of a thistle or a crown of agapanthus. Indeed she sees the beauty of plant life year round, from wintry, frozen stalks to the energy of newly emerging buds, dried seaweeds, stones and shells are gathered for inspiration, as well as feathers and pottery.

Angie Lewin began her career as a London-based illustrator, she then went on to study horticulture, relocating to Norfolk. This prompted a re-kindled interest in printmaking, as she was inspired by the swaying grasses and salt-marshes of the North Norfolk countryside. Since then, she has relocated once more to Scotland, dividing her time between her Edinburgh and Highland studios.
Angie Lewin's work is exhibited around the UK and beyond, and collected and admired avidly. Her recent solo exhibitions include at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh. She has recently had her first solo exhibition at Sarah Wiseman Gallery, in September 2015.

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Fletcher Prentice

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Fletcher Prentice's paintings are a wonderful display a fluidity and confidence with oil combined with a meticulous eye for detail. He is interested in shape, colour and the natural world along with the material qualities of paint, enjoying its texture as he uses it to build form. His paintings often take on two contrasting themes - one is still life, such as with cutlery or crockery, laid out neatly in grids, the other more prominent is bird and plant life. These paintings are made up of tangled foliage, plumage and colour, his loose painting style describes the constantly shifting movement, nature at its best. His works are often described as reminiscent of the classical murals from ancient Rome, large in scale, soft yet strong in colour and rich in detail.

Fletcher Prentice studied at Falmouth School of Art in the 80's but has been painting full time since 2007. 'When I paint I constantly strive to balance on the one hand my fascination with an object - using paint and enjoying the qualities of paint, breaking down and semi-abstracting the subject matter and surface - and on the other hand my desire to retain and capture the natural beauty of the subject, whether it be the human figure, an animal or a single pear,' he explains

* * *

Alison Pullen

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Alison's signature paintings of interiors are created in situ to maximise her experience of a room. She uses the pages of interior magazines as her ground on to which she will paint and score her collaged 'paper'. Her strength is to seek out a place in each room that has a special interest, a strongly lit corner, a window, a striking architectural detail, pulling us into the room that she sees. Her first experience of a room is paramount, she wants to be able to observe it, breaking it down into a series of abstract shapes and colours so that she can build her collage. In doing so she will often turn the pages of the collage upside-down or vertically to get the desired shape and tone in just the right place. The paint is applied very sparingly, allowing the images below to shine through, becoming part of the work. The result is an ethereal, semi-abstracted work which seems to melt together, the details of the room emerging with each viewing, as if we are travelling through it ourselves.

Alison Pullen studied at the Royal College of Art and her work has taken her to residencies at Osterley Park House in West London, Christchurch College and the Bodleian in Oxford, as well the Royal Hospital Chelsea. She has completed numerous commissions, including one for the HRH The Queen who commissioned paintings of The Throne Room at Buckingham Palace. Alison's paintings are represented in collections in the UK and internationally. She has exhibited at Sarah Wiseman Gallery since 2006 and has had two solo exhibitions at the gallery during that time.

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Clare Halifax

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Clare Halifax's printmaking contrasts extraordinary detail with wide open space and scale combined with abstract pattern. She is an observer of urban environments that teem with buildings, life and activity, often taking in large vistas or aerial views. Her series of Oxford prints explore the famous spires and rooftops that characterise the city, as well as its large open green spaces.

Clare Halifax studied printed textiles at Loughborough University, graduating in 2000. She went on to sell her designs to the international fashion and interior markets. Taking a career diversion, she returned to art school in Bristol, gaining an MA in Multi-disciplinary printmaking, specialising in silk-screen prints. Since then, she has continued to create and exhibit her printmaking around the UK, as well as working on collaborations with Farrow and Ball, John Lewis, The London Print Club as well as The Victoria and Albert Museum. She has also worked with Bern helmets, the trendy London-based cycle helmet designers, creating a London-inspired helmet featuring her artwork.

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David Rhys Jones

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Specialising in ceramic combined with photography and printmaking, David Rhys Jones creates sculptural works in miniature and large scale. His inspiration is drawn largely from the urban landscape, marking pathways left behind by generations of occupants. By setting out on pre-planned walks with his camera, he documents the peculiarities of our city streets that may not be immediately apparent to most passers-by.

Odd shop window displays, bits of graffiti or obscure statues are all a part David's influences. By using ceramic as a conduit for these images, he adds a sculptural dimension, transforming the image into a glossy, cameo-like object. They are usually wall-mounted, to be viewed individually or as a more immersive 'constellation'. Other pieces he has created in this way have been free-standing sculptural forms that slot together in an assembly of interlocking images.
David Rhys Jones trained at Central Saint Martins and since then has exhibited at The V&A Museum, the Royal Academy of Arts and the Courtauld Institute. In 2010, he was joint winner of the Jerwood Contemporary Makers Prize.

* * *

Jane Muir

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Jane Muir's ceramics are filled with an eccentric humour. They are made with a sensitive human touch that speaks to the viewer, who at once recognises something, or someone in each one. The gentle colours of her glazes allow the rough texture of the clay to shine through, lending a soft, chalky quality to her work. The sculptures themselves are whimsical and border on the absurd or surreal. Birds perch on heads, flowers bloom from shoulders. Other, smaller figures are collected together in boxes, smiling serenely. Her subject matter ranges from large scale figures and animals to tiny birds. Her work offers an uncomplicated and idiosyncratic view of the world.

The Little Ladies and Little Men series began life as a way for Jane to test colours out for larger pieces. But, like lots of experiments in the studio, they soon began to become pieces of work in their own right. Jane, by her own admission, is experimental in her approach to colour mixing and this is reflected in the expressive feel of each piece which often includes numerous textured surfaces and glazes.
Jane Muir graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1992, and has been a full time ceramicist since then. Her work has been shown throughout Europe, the United States and Japan, as well as throughout the UK. She lives and works from her studio in Peckham, South London.

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Clare Nicholls

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Clare Nicholls is a natural story teller; her ceramic works are heavily based within an internal narrative that draws upon themes of nature, the grotesque, entomology and fariy tales. It was whilst studying for her MA in Ceramics at Cardiff University that these themes became central to her diverse and unconventional approach to ceramics. Clare refuses to let herself or her imagination become pigeon holed into one area and will breeze from complex sculptural pieces to delicate painted simple platters with ease. Decoration is always central to her work and the illustrative nature of her work is a delight, from the bold zaney patterns in her seasonal snowman series to the almost botanical observational style of the new series of bird plates.

In Clare Nicholls work we have always become to expect the unexpected and herin lies the strength of her practice, it is always unique and quirky, highly desirable and a contemporary treasure to behold.

* * *

Abigail Reed

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Abigail's work explores the human and animal form. Her large-scale oil paintings and charcoal drawings focus on animals and aims to expose a sense of the primal and powerful beneath the seemingly vulnerable surface.

Abigail says her work concerns "animals poised in their ultimate state, stand like statues demanding your attention. They can appear small or fragile but on closer inspection hold immense power and resistence, mightier than all."
The animals depicted in her paintings are often ones we traditionally associate with the English countryside and hunting - the hare, the stag, the swan.
The stark and minimalist paintings are striking in their simplicity, the brushwork broad and powerful. Viewers are reminded of ink drawings as the palette is kept to dark, richly hued tones. The monochrome is often mixed with a hint of colour, giving the painting a subtle depth.

* * *

Bridget Davies

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Bridget Davies’ distinctive ink paintings explore a world of fashion, fabric and glamour. They are reminiscent
of a bygone age of style, of cocktail parties and gatherings where formal
dresses and lengthy cigarette holders were de
rigueur.

Sinewy limbs strut and flounce
across her paintings, bedecked in wafts of silk and taffeta, all created with
singular, gestural washes and pools of ink. By allowing the ink and wash to run
and bloom across her paper, she brings movement and freshness.

Bridget trained at Bretton Hall,
University of Leeds where she gained a 1st class BA in Fashion and Textiles.
After a spell of teaching fashion and fashion illustration in Milan, she worked
in the fashion industry for several years as an embroiderer and fashion designer.
After many years living abroad, she returned to England and to her first love,
painting figures and illustrating fashion. Since then, she has evolved a career
as a freelance artist working with galleries and with a number of collaborative
clients, such as Anthropologie, John Lewis, Nordstrom, US department store
J.Jill, and numerous books and magazines. Bridget lives and works from her
studio in Sussex.